ZERO BRINE is a European Union (EU) Horizon 2020 Innovation Action project that advances circular economy business model solutions by redesigning the value chains of industrial wastewater. Coordinated by TU Delft with 22 partners from 10 countries, the €11 million project aims to close the water cycle by recovering and reusing the minerals and water from the brine (saline-impaired effluents) of process industries over four years beginning June 2017. ZERO BRINE will implement four large-scale demonstrations at industrial sites: a water plant in the Netherlands, a silica factory in Spain, a coal mine in Poland and a textile factory in Turkey.

The concept of the ZERO BRINE project

The process industry is the major source of chloride releases in Europe, with the chemical industry representing the vast majority at 11.5 million tons/year. These releases are complex effluents and represent a big challenge for companies in terms of management and costs…